


bath bombs over breakfast

by bananaprince



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comedy, Eventual Romance, Flirting, M/M, Mall dates, Matt’s POV, Shiro works in a store and Keith is gooey about it au, also Matt is there, if this fic had substance then this would be s8
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-03 01:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17274257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananaprince/pseuds/bananaprince
Summary: “What does it mean when a guy buys five bath bombs for three consecutive weeks? Cosmopolitan has like, nothing on this.”“For the last time, Shiro, he likes you. Like-like’s you. You know? Like a crush-“Shiro works at Lush™️ and Keith can’t stop buying soap.





	bath bombs over breakfast

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t write like... at all so please ignore this messy bitch of a fic and all its errors, also I’ve never worked at lush ... pretend this is fictional au lush thank u and take care love

Matt was stocking their finest banana shampoo on the shelves when the menace first walked in. From the moment he laid eyes on him was also the same moment that Shiro did. See, this is where it began to go downhill. From that very first millisecond that it had started.

 

As soon as the dark haired, fingerless gloves wearing kid walked in, every functioning brain cell in Shiro’s head decided it wanted to take the day off. Matt looked at the guy, he looked barely over the age of twenty, and his leather jacket looked like someone had used their car to do donuts on it. Perhaps he was attractive, yes, Matt will give him that.

 

And yet, those brain cells were still taking days off, three weeks later. Who could blame them, though. Not when Shiro became the human version of the heart emoji every time this minx walked in, jingling the stores doorbells like a warning. The worst part was, Shiro’s new admirer wasn’t any different. He was shorter than him and every time he’d look up at Shiro to say something, his eyes would go doe eyed and glossy-  _god, is this legal?_

 

But it got worse because of course it did, when Shiro would deny the desperation that posed itself as a crush. _It’s so obvious_  Matt had said, and Shiro argued a _To whom?_ back and Matt just so badly wanted to point out,  _Anyone with eyes, Shiro!_

 

Meddling was not Matt’s forte. However, being a bystander was even more painful.

 

Silence hung in the air as dense as smoke. Matt looked to Shiro, then to their new customer and back to Shiro again. Neither of them moved, did they even blink? Hard to tell. Well, this wasn’t good protocol. Matt put his I Was Employee of the Month Once pants on, and interjected, with his chipper voice that didn’t leave the store’s walls.

 

“Um, hi there.” He gave a short wave from the top of the three step ladder. Fingerless Gloves glanced his way and gave him a generous nod before turning back to Shiro, the moment passing like it hadn’t even existed. “We’re closing in ten minutes.”

 

“But-“ Shiro’s voice returned to Earth, a little nervous from the way his bushy eyebrows hooked inwards. “We can stay late if you’d like to browse.”

 

Now Matt was definitely not hearing that right.  _What did he just say?_

 

Fingerless Gloves smiled, and Matt really wished he didn’t because Shiro looked awestruck, like he’d never seen anyone smile before in all his 25 years of life. His goofy expression was enough and Matt should have left right then.

 

Matt’s eyes went big in a different way and he glared down at Shiro, first time ever having any ounce of height over the man. Shiro returned it with an equally defiant glare, before switching his entire face’s composure to something Matt had only seen be used for looking at puppies. This wasn’t happening, Matt wanted to believe. Especially not before they closed early on a Sunday.

 

Shiro delivered a charming smile that was bordering on inappropriate for the workplace, and then his mouth started moving. “Are you looking for something in particular? Masks? We restocked on lip scrubs, the chocolate one’s a favourite.” The chocolate one was definitely not _a favourite_ but more of  _his favourite._

 

Shameless, Matt mouthed and shook his head. Shiro pretended Matt was an unimportant flea.

 

“Oh, um.” The stranger said. The fact that he was in a _store_  where you had to _buy_  things dawned on him heavy. He picked up the nearest product, a pink bath bomb and held it up like Isaac Newton probably held an apple. “This.”

 

“Mmm, yeah. Marshmallow World, that’s our best seller.” Matt this time, he sounded bored. Shiro finally turned to give him an incredulous look and Matt proclaimed an _Eat me, Shirogane_  face.

 

“This one’s better, though.” Shiro quickly intercepted, he stepped forward, shortening the distance between him and the boy. Shiro held up another bath bomb, equally pink but darker and more solid. “Sex bomb.”

 

Matt audibly groaned and rolled his eyes, not that either of them heard nor cared. He could dramatically fall from where he was elevated and neither of them would bat an eye.

 

“Excuse me?” The dark haired boy blushed, the tops of his cheeks matching the soap in Shiro’s hand. _Are_ _you_ _12?_ Matt’s inside voice didn’t know who he was mocking more in this situation. Maybe himself for even being present and bearing witness.

 

It was fair to say that, Fingerless Gloves did not look like the typical Lush shopper. He had the appearance of an auto shop worker, like a mechanic, maybe he even smelt like car grease if Matt was close enough. Perhaps he was something more menacing, like a mugger. Then again, he was just stereotyping for his own benefit, marking these theories as purely hypothetical.

 

Shiro offered the bath bomb like he was going to feed it to him, and the boy followed leaning in. Matt’s heart skipped a necessary beat and he held his breath.

 

“It smells like,-“ The boy sniffed for the second time since Matt closed his eyes. “Like flowers.” He finished, looking up. Half the store smelt like flowers, but no one was going to tell him that. Besides, since when were they standing so close? Shiro was definitely breaching some rules of conduct here.

 

Shiro nodded like an excited dog, and yeah, that definition did suit him quite well, Matt thought. He was pretty sure out of the three of them, he was the only one in the store _thinking_ too.

 

Long story short, it was fifteen minutes past closing time.

 

Mister Hypothetical Mugger bought two Sex Bombs, one more than necessary, but their buy two get one half price was too delectable to miss, and the way Shiro had looked at him- _Christ_ , _if_ _you’re_ _there_. He walked out with three bath bombs.

 

Upon leaving, he even presented a smooth “ _Bye_ , _Shiro_.” at the register before ducking out. That was somewhat impressive, even to Matt’s ambiguous standards. The flutter of his lashes definitely did not go unnoticed. Shiro was going to be biting his fist on that for days.

 

Shiro stared at the now turned We’re Closed sign in amazement and Matt huffed out a “ _Dude_ , _your_ _name_ _tag_.” In hopes of putting that to rest.

 

***

Nothing was at rest since then.

 

Matt thought he’d felt enough second hand embarrassment from that one encounter to last him the rest of his life, but he was wrong. Shockingly so.

 

By the time the next week rolled around, Matt, and he assumed, Shiro had forgotten about Fingerless Gloves. That was until he was back the following Sunday.

 

Appearance quite the same, but he had a red flannel tied to his hips, and wore a black t-shirt with sleeves rolled up to his shoulders. For a skinny and lanky looking thing, he had evenly toned arms that were bare and Matt didn’t even need to look at Shiro to know what he was thinking.

 

Hands moving to prop his sunglasses atop his head, he wasted no time in seeking out Shiro. The smile that he offered told Matt he didn’t go around giving _anyone_ that kind of charm, and boy, was he beginning to learn a lot about this complete stranger.

 

Matt hid behind a makeshift face mask station they were using, and a million things ran through his head. Was this going to be routine now? Shiro’s weekly admirer popping in to turn Shiro into the worst version of himself, or maybe the best, depending on the perspective.

 

He sneaked behind another station and Romelle gave him a confused stare from the register. Matt shook his head to the left and Romelle followed up with a frown. He’d told her about Shiro’s new love interest and she’d passed it off like the surplus of people that came in here weren’t in love with him too.

 

“It’s my _favourite_.” Shiro said, “Like a little surprise for every bath.” Shiro’s voice sounded as sweet as honey and Matt was going to get cavities just from being near it. He then turned, finding both of them stood where they had been last week, having no respect for the personal space rule.

 

“Oh, yeah? And what else are you into?” The prominent scratch to the guys voice was really working for him, considering everything he said made it sound ten times more provocative than it needed to be. That clearly caught Shiro off guard and he stood there in reverence.

 

 _He_ _means_ _the_ _bath_ _bombs_ , you idiot Matt thought, trying to telepathically communicate that to him.

 

He bought another bath bomb. There was no possible way that this guy loved bath bombs _this_ much, right? Of course not. Where was he even getting the money? Their products weren’t cheap, a universal fact. This was obviously part of a bigger ploy that Matt hoped they’d get to the end of, and soon.

 

***

To no one's surprise except for Shiro’s, the boy showed up again the next week. Actually, he stopped by twice in the same week and Matt confirmed, mostly to himself, that was pushing it.

 

“Maybe he has a blog or something.” Shiro’s voice echoed from the stockroom, they were doing inventory on a Friday.

 

Matt put his clipboard down and sighed. Talking about Shiro’s new found amour was their thing now, though Shiro wouldn’t call him that. Matt considered the blogging theory and threw it out the door. Shiro didn’t even know the guy’s name yet. All their conversations were short, somewhat polite bordering on pathetic, and it was still enough to have Shiro rambling about it every other day. But he didn’t consider him a blogger.

 

“Maybe he eats them. Ever watched an episode of My Strange Addictions?” Matt offered, and Shiro peeked out behind the doorframe and sent him a glare. Matt had bypassed favouring Shiro’s obliviousness and went straight to abusing it.

 

The worst part was the flirting. This, Matt could confirm with his whole heart. It was painful to observe and a different thing to understand altogether. He thought the casual and sly sweetalking was enough, but upon witnessing Shiro rubbing coffee grounds onto the others hand, Matt knew the impish flirtations were just grade one.

 

Shiro had offhandedly mentioned how soft his admirer’s hands were over lunch. _Great_ , Matt had thought, he was even invading their lunch breaks now.

 

 _Just_ _ask_ _him_ _out_ , Matt wanted to say, yell, actually. But he’d made an oath to himself that he wasn’t getting in the middle of it.

 

***

Shiro wasn’t working next Sunday, and Matt was thankful for two things that day. One being, the fact that Shiro wasn’t here to sing along to Ariana Grande when it started blaring from the speakers, and two, that his not-so-secret admirer didn’t witness it. Or maybe he should have, and that would have put an end to this never ending affair. Or even worse, he’d love it so much that his heart would flatline and Matt would have to call an ambulance, and explain what had happened. _Sweetener_ was really capable of putting people to their graves.

 

Matt watched him wander around aimlessly from the till, he leaned over the counter and propped his chin up on a lifted palm. Mister Flatliner was haunting the gifts section of their store and Matt was a little more than curious. Was this the premonition of romance in the works? Matt thought he should have started with flowers.

 

He had his overgrown black hair tied into a little pony tail that day, and Matt quickly snapped a pic before typing _Lover_ _boy_ _is_ _back_ _> :)_ then promptly sending it to Shiro. Yes, Matt believed he was a very considerate friend.

 

Before swiping his phone into his back pocket, a shadow loomed over his arched figure and Matt jumped.

 

“You know it’s not nice to take pictures of strangers.”

 

Matt looked up and felt the pieces of his soul left untouched, exit his body. Pressing his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose, he finally stood to level the others unimpressed stare.

 

“Neither is gifting someone something from the same place they work at.” Matt stammered, and regretted the words as soon as he’d said them. Mostly because he sounded like a middle school snitch and looking at the other upfront, his immediate response was want to appear cooler somehow, but he felt small under that leveled gaze. _He_ _could_ _beat_ _me_ _up_ , Matt’s racing thoughts helpfully added.

 

“What-“ He began, and raised a small something from his hand, Matt winced and drew his hands to his face like this was a stick up, his brain and mouth working separately. Twenty years of life and he wasn’t ready to die this soon, he had so much left to live for, he hadn’t even had his first kiss yet-

 

“He likes lilies- his favourite chocolates are Reese’s but he doesn’t like eating them because he doesn’t want the extra pounds- _pleasedon’thurtme_ -“ The string of words flew out of Matt’s mouth a little pathetically and way too fast to be coherent, there was a squeak involved but they both pretended it didn’t happen.

 

The other deadpanned, staring long enough to become awkward. He positioned the small, pink gift box onto the counter and supplied Matt with the most incredulous expression. He probably thought Matt was a crazy person, nothing at this point was stating otherwise as Matt withdrew his hands from his face.

 

“This-“ The boy offered the softest voice, “-is for my Mom. It’s um, her birthday next week?” He mumbled, and Matt felt bad, like _bad_ , bad. _Oh_ , _god_. Matt wished there was a secret trap door underneath his feet, willing to fall to the depths of something that would make him feel less guilt. The other flushed a bright pink, and Matt pretended he didn’t see. Shiro was going to kick him for this if he didn’t do it himself first. In fact, Shiro could never know this ever happened.

 

Apologising was a distant feat. There was so much context to unpack on what Matt had said, he didn’t even know where to begin.

 

Matt rang him up and they both stayed silent. They both knew something here, and they both knew that the other knew it too, it was like a game of Chicken. As he promptly made to leave, the boy stopped and turned, crumpling something in his hand. With a brief _Never_ _mind_ under his breath, he swiftly dashed out of the store leaving Matt to finally breathe.

 

***

“What does it mean when a guy buys five bath bombs for three consecutive weeks? _Cosmopolitan_ has like, nothing on this.”

 

“For the last time, Shiro, he _likes_ you. _Like_ - _like’s_ you. You know? Like a crush-“

 

“I know what a crush is, Matt.” Shiro flipped the magazine he’d been perusing through to a close and looked at the clock. _Oh_ , _I’m_ _sure_ _you_ _do_ Matt thought to himself. Whoever made fifteen minute break times really were working for the devil.

 

“It’s just, he hasn’t said anything.” Shiro concluded with a sigh, affirming that was the end of the conversation and Matt watched him hide the small pink flush that was apparent on his face. This had been going on for weeks now and Matt was this- _this_ , close to ending it all. He didn’t _really_ need this job. Not if it meant dealing with _this_.

 

The mall had plenty of other stores that hired regularly. When Matt decided to submit his body to retail hell, he didn’t think the final purge of his soul would be between organic lotions, and soaps that contained more dirt than the field outside.

 

Alas, the universe worked in miraculous ways.

 

It was nearing a week since Matt had embarrassed himself for all of him, the not-so-secret admirer, and the security cameras to see. A week since the most weirdest encounter Matt’s ever had, and he’s had plenty in the nine months that he’s been working here.

 

Leading to their present situation, Shiro hadn’t stopped looking at the door the whole day. Every once in a while, Matt would hear a prolonged sigh and he’d roll his eyes. It was a Sunday, after all, and they were always slow.

 

In the most elementary sense, Lover Boy wasn’t showing up and Shiro was sour about it, because of course _that’s_ the kind of person he’d be. The unfortunate pout that he was sporting told his whole life story.

 

With less than an hour before closing time, Matt found Shiro leaning against the counter, magazine in hand, and _oh_ _no_ , he was looking at horoscopes again.

 

Matt couldn’t take this anymore, the amount of mope that was leaking out of Shiro actually made him feel pitiful for once. He placed a comfortable hand on Shiro’s shoulder, just above where the metallic prosthetic extended and flipped a page over.

 

“You wanna get ice cream after this? Or boba? The next one’s free.” Matt waved his tiny points card in front of Shiro’s face, and offered his most ridiculous yet benevolent smile.

 

Shiro shrugged a small _Sure_ , and turned away, magazine fastened underneath his armpit. This was going to take a lot of work, apparently. More than boba could fix, and Shiro loved boba.

 

Boba decided it had given up on Shiro, and more unfortunately, Matt. By the time they’d reached their go-to boba place, it had closed and Matt was kicking himself for it.

 

Shiro looked more miserable than before, the sadness overwhelming and if Matt looked clearly, then he could even see a small storm cloud following him like a ghost. It was awful.

 

“Don’t you worry, man. I heard a new boba cafe opened up down the street.” Matt tried to do damage control to the best of his ability. He wasn’t lying, a new one had opened and he’d been meaning to try it out for himself too.

 

The ten minute walk down the street was a quiet one, and Matt promised himself that he’d be on his best behaviour to cheer Shiro up. There was something so devastating about having a sad Shiro in his life, Matt couldn’t bear it.

 

The new boba cafe had a funky purple theme going on upon arrival. Little spaceship mobiles hung from the ceiling, which also glowed with tiny stars. Matt turned to see Shiro’s face brighten up, _he_ _was_ _into_ _that_ _space_ _shit_ as Matt kindly put it, and who was he kidding, he was too. Shiro‘s indifferent smile felt a little misplaced but it was genuine.

 

“Gonna use the restroom.” Shiro announced and quickly walked off. Matt hoped this would be the best Jasmine Milk Tea Shiro would ever have the pleasure of drinking, he bet on it. Suddenly feeling super defensive over Shiro’s person, Matt decided that he _deserved_ it.

 

When Matt approached the counter, all air left his body like he’d been punched in the stomach. The last thing he was expecting to see in a _goddamn_ boba place was the same shock of black hair that had been ruining Matt’s work life for the past several weeks.

 

The familiar menace walked out from behind a glass door, in the middle of tying his apron behind his back, and of course, his hair was tied low, though it looked neater than the last time.

 

“ _You_.” Matt incited with a pointed finger, the boy looking surprised far more than Matt did. “You never came back.” Matt declared, he sounded like he was delivering the biggest telling off in history when he didn’t even have the right to, given their last confrontation.

 

“I-“ The boy looked bewildered and then his brows furrowed and he scowled, reading Matt’s threatening posture.

 

“ _What_ even is your name?” Matt continued, pent up frustration finally finding its release. “I can’t believe you work here- of _all_ places.” Matt hovered over the counter, the other looked less alarming in his work uniform, he even looked cute. Although his face looked like it was going to say something really mean and follow through with it. Matt’s eyes read _Do_ _it_ , _but_ _you’ll_ _get_ _fired_ like the newly formed demon that he was.

 

Whatever Boba Boy had in store for Matt was briefly put on hold as a loud and deep voice bellowed out from beyond.

 

“ _Keith_ , where did you put the grass jelly?” The voice yelled, and _Keith_ watched as Matt’s face beamed because he’d just gained five miles in this race they were competing in now.

 

“Top shelf to the left!” Keith shot back, a little miffed by the interruptance. He turned back to face Matt and the abrupt change in Keith’s composure gave him whiplash. He heard a tiny _Shit_ under his breath and his face softened into something more delicate. Matt was very familiar with that expression, he twisted his head to see the same expression mirrored onto Shiro’s stoic features.

 

“Uh, hi.”

  
  
  



End file.
